Poll: Cory Booker gets high marks in Newark

While political opponents have long questioned Mayor Cory Booker's popularity in Newark, a 2012 poll obtained by The Star-Ledger seemingly puts an end to questions about his ratings in the city he governs. Booker received an overall 70-percent favorability rating among likely voters in Newark, according to the poll commissioned in October by some of his most staunch opponents. A total of 69 percent of African American voters in the city said they have a favorable opinion of the mayor, who is now in his second term. The poll was conducted by Global Strategy Group, a prominent national polling firm, and questioned 404 likely voters - a healthy sample for a city of Newark's size. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

It was commissioned by a group of city leaders including South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka, West Ward Councilman Ron Rice, to determine who would have the best chance of winning the 2014 mayoral race. Booker will most likely not seek a third term. Instead, he is gearing up for a U.S. Senate run. Rice, who is unlikely to run for mayor, came in second on favorability with 63 percent. Baraka scored 61 percent, according to the poll. The two other major potential candidates — North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos and former Assistant Attorney General Shavar Jeffries — scored 44 percent and 16 percent respectively. Since the poll was conducted, two major events have occurred that could have an impact on the numbers: Booker lost a fierce battle to appoint Shanique Speight as Donald Payne Jr.'s successor on the council. Payne was elected to Congress to replace his father, who died last March. Then, Booker announced he was

, angering a lot of Democrats statewide Still, a favorability rating of 70 percent is good for any politician, not to mention one who has engendered such vocal opposition among city leaders. Other numbers in the poll also tell an interesting story. Booker received an overall 65 percent job approval rating and 58 percent of respondents said they would re-elect him if he ran for a third term. That means anyone running against Booker's legacy in Newark will have to carefully calibrate their message since a commanding majority of voters seem to back the mayor's job performance. What the numbers portend for potential mayoral candidates is unclear. In a four-way matchup between Baraka, Rice, Ramos and Jeffries, Rice came out ahead with 28 percent of the vote, Baraka got 27 percent, Ramos got 23 percent and Jeffries got 2 percent, according to the poll. With Rice out of the race and campaigns still in their infancy for the 2014 contest, those numbers could change drastically.